Just Finished Reading: Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell (FP: 1938)

In late 1936, along with many other men of his generation, Eric Blair travelled to war torn Spain to do something about the Fascist tide sweeping across Europe. Largely ignorant of war but full of naïve hope the book was a record of his experiences during the country’s Civil War. Staying for about a year – before being severally wounded – he spent most of his time at the front lines trying to keep warm and find food. Mostly he looked across at the enemy lines and wondered if anything was going to happen that day or the day after. Blair – who is rather better known under his literary name of George Orwell – felt that he was largely wasting his time although he tried his best to train the soldiers under him how to keep their rather obsolete rifles clean and the rudiments of military practise. Back in Barcelona he became tangentially involved in the sudden in-fighting between various left-wing factions in the city. Having fought with the Anarchists and their Socialist allies this became his natural home in the street fighting that followed. This, on top of everything else he had already experienced in Spain, turned him forever against the Communists directed from Moscow. After their duplicity in Spain he had no trouble understanding their later non-aggression pact with Hitler that caused so much anguish amongst Communists throughout the West. Not for Blair/Orwell the need to leave the Party or the forced mental contortions of those who stayed behind and who had to justify this unexpected volte-face. He had seen the Soviets for what they were at first hand and had – just – lived to tell the tale.

This, the political side of Orwell’s experiences in Spain (partially relegated to a few annexes in my edition), was the part that most fascinated me. I knew of some of the in-fighting that emasculated if not destroyed the Left’s ability to beat their more unified opponents on the Right but it was stimulating to get if from someone who had actually experienced it himself. It was clear from Orwell’s account that political ideology from the Communist side always trumped military or any other kind of logic. Hundreds of loyal Spanish fighters who were totally dedicated to fighting against Fascism where arrested and, some at least, executed because they would not bend to the Soviet way of doing things. Again, luckily for Orwell, he saw the way the wind was blowing and managed to get out of Spain before he was arrested.

Although I knew that Orwell had been injured in Spain I hadn’t appreciated just how serious the injury was and just how lucky he was to survive. Shot in the throat he was not expected to survive the trip to hospital. The bullet apparently missed a major artery in his neck by millimetres. A small distance in one direction and his writing career would have ended with a handful of books to his name and, possibly, a footnote in English literary history. Imagine, for a moment, a world culture without Animal Farm or 1984. A fraction of an inch separates the two worlds!

Whilst not exactly gripping or a great page turner this is worth the time and effort to read – especially if you’ve read 1984 and ever wondered where some of the ideas came from. It’s also worth the read to see war, and a rather chaotic civil war at that, from the ground by someone who was there. I am definitely coming to see contemporary first-hand accounts of historic events as a valuable means of getting to the heart of the action. An interesting and probably significant work.